Hello from the Gold Coast Academic Team.
At Langports, students have the opportunity to study a variety of closed courses. The closed courses that are offered at Langports are; TOEIC, IELTS, Business English Plus, Cambridge FCE /CAE /CPE, and EAP (English for Academic Purposes). A closed course at Langports means that you will study in the same class with the same teacher for a period of either 5, 10, or 12 weeks, depending on the course.
All of these courses, except for TOEIC, have a strong writing component in them and writing techniques are taught by our highly trained teachers to help students succeed in their exams. One of these techniques is helping students to add variety to their writing. A simple example of this is replacing a common transition like “In addition” to “Moreover” or “However” to “Nonetheless”, which brings me to the focus of this blog.
Consider this sentence; I think that I am going to pass my exam this weekend because I have been studying hard for the past 3 months.
When WE or SOMEONE else believe that something is true or not true, we can substitute the conjunction “because” with “inasmuch as” or “insofar as”.
I think that I am going to pass my exam this weekend inasmuch as I have been studying hard for the past 3 months.
Now, you might be thinking that “inasmuch as” and “insofar as” are spelling mistakes but in fact, they mean the same as “because”. Remember though that we can only use “inasmuch as” or “insofar as” when WE or SOMEONE else think that something is true or not true.
Consider this sentence; I think that Arsenal will beat Manchester United insofar as Arsenal has a far superior coach. This is purely what I think and may not be the opinion of others so using ‘insofar as’ is perfectly fine.
Consider this sentence; I cannot speak Spanish inasmuch as I did not learn the Spanish language as a child. In this situation, you cannot use “inasmuch as”. This is because it is a fact that I did not learn the Spanish language as a child and not what I think. So, in this situation, using “because” is correct.
To recap, remember that “inasmuch as” and “insofar as” share the same meaning as “because”. However, do not forget that we can only substitute “because” for “inasmuch as” or “insofar as” when WE or SOMEONE else think something is TRUE or NOT TRUE. Also, “inasmuch as” and “insofar as” are formal structures and should only be used in formal writing.
I hope this blog helps you all to add variety to your writing!